Juice Bottler Changes Hands

May 11, 1988|by DAN SHOPE, The Morning Call

Five months after purchasing Red Cheek Ltd., Cadbury Schweppes PLC of London has sold the Fleetwood apple juice maker's only facility to a group led by Red Cheek's former president and chief executive officer, the companies said yesterday.

Beverage Works Inc., formed by Franklin H. Claire and three other former Red Cheek officers, has bought the juice-bottling facilities for an undisclosed price and has placed headquarters in Fleetwood, Berks County, the executives said yesterday.

"Cadbury Schweppes PLC is selling us the assets of Red Cheek and maintaining the brand name," said Gasper Ferraro, executive vice president of the newly formed Beverage Works. "The deal was worked out last December, when Red Cheek was acquired for $23 million from H.P. Bulmer Holdings PLC."

Because Beverage won't be in the the apple pressing business and won't be marketing Red Cheek products, employment in Fleetwood has dropped to 145 from 190, Ferraro said.

This isn't the first change at the facility during this decade. Others include:

- Red Cheek, a cooperative founded in 1936, borrowed $15 million in 1982 to construct the modern apple juice plant in Fleetwood. The co-op, owned and operated by apple growers, had over-estimated the market's growth, the company said.

- In August 1984, H.P. Bulmer of Hereford, England, acquired Red Cheek, the No. 2 apple juice producer on the East Coast, for about $5 million. However, Bulmer assumed loans totaling about $12 million from the deal that had been used to finance the new plant.

- Last Dec. 21, Cadbury Schweppes of London bought Red Cheek from Bulmer for $5.3 million in cash. It, too, assumed borrowings - this time of about $17.5 million, Cadbury said. It also addedRed Cheek to No. 1-selling Mott's apple juice brands. The Fleetwood facility will continue to produce, market and sell one familiar product - Red Cheek's 10-ounce drink, found in many convenience stores, Ferraro said.